An Instrumental Break
by PlotterFTW
Summary: AU. Kurt and Blaine met in freshman year at Dalton. When you're young, it's a little harder to be honest.
1. In That Instant It Started to Pour

An Instrumental Break

Summary: AU. Kurt and Blaine met in freshman year at Dalton. When you're young, it's a little harder to be honest.

Title inspired by Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars

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><p><em>It's funny<em>, Kurt mused, _how everything changed yet stayed the same for years._

It started in Freshman year.

He was beyond intimidated when he stepped into the halls of Dalton Academy. Everything was immaculate, and the good looking boys with their carefully-pressed blazers reinforced this delusion of grandeur.

Kurt stumbled his way to his first class. The over-enthusiastic teacher began to speak in gibberish at once, informing all her students that it was French. Kurt very, very nearly snorted. He was fluent. Having no friends meant time to acquire skills such as a second language. As he struggled to hold back a grin, the teacher caught his eye and winked.

Mme. De Marscher asked Kurt to hand out everyone's textbooks. Most of the boys wore identical, polite smiles; Kurt scanned the room and his eyes fell on one with unruly curly hair and warm hazel eyes.

Glasz met hazel, and if Kurt were to describe that moment, years later, he would be able to recount it perfectly, from the duration of the silent exchange to the way his heart fluttered and his breath caught in his throat and the way gravity seemed to shift for a millisecond and somehow everything changed.

The hazel-eyed boy looked away with an air of indifference.

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><p>It took Kurt two months to talk to the hazel-eyed boy. His indifference was bewildering.<p>

It was a sheer stroke of luck that they ended up sitting next to each other at their first school-wide assembly for Halloween. Kurt pointed his knees in the opposite direction as the hazel-eyed boy in an effort to appear nonchalant. He held his arm tentatively on the armrest between them.

The boy didn't seem to notice.

After a long speech regarding traditions and alumni, the school acapella singing group – named The Warblers – was introduced.

"Mrs. Lovett, what a charming notion!" Kurt finally recognized the song from Sweeney Todd and smiled, humming along with the lines of Mrs. Lovett. The Warblers had a tenor singing in falsetto. They were very good, but Kurt was able to hit the notes with a lot more ease.

After a few verses, Kurt recognized a different voice breathing Mr. Todd's part. He turned to look at the hazel-eyed boy, and for the first time, he recognized something akin to admiration and amusement on his gorgeous face.

After the assembly, Kurt prepared to strike a conversation with the hazel-eyed boy as they're leaving. Before he was able to do that, however, he felt a hand on his arm. "Hey."

Kurt turned around and was surprised to see the hazel-eyed boy looking at him with something like a smile. "Hi."

The boy hesitated a little. "I'm Blaine. Blaine Anderson." He stood up as well.

Kurt knew that already. "Kurt Hummel."

Blaine nodded, then put his hand up as if to run it through his dark curls, but dropped his hand abruptly.

The amount of awkward was too much for Kurt to bear. "You like Sweeney Todd?"

Blaine nodded, seeming relieved at the conversation opener Kurt supplied. "Yeah. I saw it live once. I'm not a huge fan of musicals because I haven't seen that many."

Kurt didn't know where he got the confidence, but he grinned and held out a hand. "Well, we just have to fix that, won't we?"

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><p>Fast forward another two months, and Kurt had a best friend on his arm.<p>

Kurt and Blaine slowly became one entity. They would crack up at cultural references that nobody else understood. They'd watch movie musicals in their dorm rooms, and secretly were also watching old-school Disney.

Kurt did not expect Blaine to be the one he would confide in.

It started one afternoon, as the two were finishing their third viewing of Moulin Rouge.

"Nicole Kidman is positively gorgeous." Kurt remarked.

Blaine made a non-committal sound and then, "but so is Ewan McGregor, right?"

Kurt was a bit taken aback. It wasn't as if he never thought that before, but he had never met a guy who shared the sentiment. He hesitated before saying: "He really is."

"Better than Nicole?" Blaine was testing the waters a little.

Kurt didn't know what to say. Of course he thought Ewan McGregor was cuter, but it wasn't really a sentiment that could be voiced. "What do you think?"

Blaine hesitated, and for a second his eyes were fearful before a look of determination set over his features. "Yes." His strong tone did not match the seemingly simple answer.

Kurt let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding.

"Me too."

**A/N: Please review. **

**I haven't written fanfiction in a very long time. This story is completely AU but will incorporate canon elements later on. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! **


	2. Despite All The Rain

An Instrumental Break: Chapter 2 – Despite All The Rain

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><p>Two days after the McGregor vs. Kidman conversation, Kurt and Blaine found themselves in Blaine's dorm room with a pack of chocolates that Blaine's parents sent him.<p>

"What does the note say?" Kurt asked with a curious glance at the note in Blaine's hands. He didn't notice the way Blaine's fingers tightened.

"Nothing worth mentioning."

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><p>Kurt knew he was being nosy, but he also knew that Blaine was in the shower and won't be out for a few more minutes.<p>

Before he could lose his nerve, he crept to the trash can where the note lay in a ball.

It simply said: "We're sorry".

* * *

><p>"<em>Love is a many, splendored thing!" <em>

"All you need is love!" Kurt and Blaine belted out along with the soundtrack and started giggling, overwhelming the vocals of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. They were studying for their first French exam.

"I know what will help us with French!" Kurt stood triumphantly and grabbed his iPod. Celine Dion began to softly croon from the speakers. Blaine looked at him blankly for a few seconds before erupting in a fit of laughter.

"Hey!" Kurt protested. "Celine Dion is currently singing in French. Besides, she's Quebecoise; maybe you can absorb some of her French-speaking ability by diffusion."

Blaine remarked that Kurt was a dork. Kurt countered by digging out Blaine's t-shirt with a picture of Bohr's atomic model while teasing him about his extensive collection of bowties.

Their friendship was peaceful, easy,

* * *

><p>"Kurt?"<p>

"Hmm?"

"Which middle school did you go to?"

"William McKinley Middle School. It was downright torturous."

"Oh."

"Where did you go?"

The question was met by silence, then, "it's too soon to go back."

* * *

><p>"Blaine!"<p>

"What's wrong, Kurt?"

"Nothing's wrong – in fact, everything is WONDERFUL."

"Okay, enlighten me on why this particular day has made you particularly jolly."

"…I don't know."

"What?"

"I just feel like announcing that I'm happier than usual even though I have nothing to really be happy about."

Blaine grinned and put his arm around Kurt. "Your antics are quite charismatic, Mr. Hummel."

"I'm well aware, but thank you."

A beat, then Kurt reached into his satchel for a battered paperback and began to read.

"Are you seriously reading when you can wittily banter with yours truly?" Blaine asked incredulously.

"Shhh!" Kurt scolded Blaine. "It's Le Petit Prince. I'm reading it in French. It's one of my favourite passages."

Blaine read over his shoulder. "I don't understand any of it."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Well, it's basically saying how the fox asked the little prince to tame him."

"That sounds like some kind of weird sexual innuendo."

"Shut up! In this context, 'to tame' means to bond with someone, so to speak. Before the little prince tamed the fox, they were only strangers to each other, and to the fox the little prince is no different than any other boy. After a bond was established, though, they stand out to each other amongst crowds. They become special. It's all very insightful." Kurt looked up to see Blaine with his triangular brows furrowed. "What?"

"What's the book called in English again?"

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><p>"Kurt!"<p>

"Yes Blaine?"

"You're MY rose and I'm YOUR fox."

"What?"

"I've been reading The Little Prince. It's really kind of inspiring. Because we met and took the time to know each other, we've been tamed, so to speak, right?"

Kurt smiled and slung an arm around Blaine's shoulder. Blaine flinched.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked, concerned.

"I'm sorry. I'm not really great with physical contact beyond basic hand shaking, that's all." Blaine tried to quickly compose himself. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Blaine…I'm pretty sure there's a code for the tamed where they don't lie to each other."

Blaine sighed and this time really ran through his hand through his hair. "Kurt, can you promise me that you'll be my friend, no matter what?"

"You were the one who killed the squirrel outside Wes' room?"

"What? Warbler Wes? No." Blaine very lightly snorted and Kurt smiled at that. "Well, do you know why I transferred to Dalton? I was here for the last couple months of the eighth grade. I…I was bullied, Kurt, bullied really, really badly at my old school. And it got so out of hand that I was sent here for the zero-tolerance to bullying policy they have."

Kurt reached out, then thought better of it. "Blaine —"

Blaine wasn't done. "I was bullied…because I'm gay, Kurt." He held his breath, waiting for an answer.

Kurt stared at the curly-haired boy in awe. "Blaine…" he tugged the boy close and hugged him despite said boy's aversion to anything tactile. _Tell him that you're gay too_, a voice in his head scolded, _he won't judge! Then you can kiss it all better and _– whoa, where did that come from? Kurt wasn't gay! He liked girly things like musicals and pretty clothes and butterflies but he didn't like _boys_. Maybe he thought Ewan McGregor was more attractive than Nicole Kidman and Blaine was the most gorgeous person he had ever met, but both of these were facts. However, he couldn't help thinking that Blaine was so brave, so honest and unashamed of who he was, and that inspired Kurt. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

Blaine wanted to say that Kurt didn't need to be sorry, that his acceptance meant so much more to Blaine than he could ever know. Instead, he simply hugged back. "Me too."

A door opened. "Blaine, is it? I'm your new –" the boy standing in the doorway stopped abruptly. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Kurt kind of wanted to scream that yes, he is _very much _interrupting, but he plastered a smile onto his face and gently plied Blaine off of him. "Hi, I'm Kurt, this is Blaine. Nice to meet you."

The boy blushed, and Blaine couldn't help but notice the rose of his cheeks really complemented the gold of his hair and the green of his eyes. "I'm Zack. Well, I'm actually Zachary but I'm usually called Zack although my parents do call me Ray-Ray which is really embarrassing – sorry. This is probably really boring."

Blaine smiled at him and held out his hand. "I'm Blaine."

Kurt felt something akin to jealousy as Zack held onto Blaine's hand for a little longer than necessary.

_A/N Please review. _

_Thank you for everyone who put this story on alerts or in favourites. It means a lot to me. _

_Don't hate me for bringing in an OC – he will be utilized in a different way than most people are used to, I can tell you that much. Unfortunately, he will be sticking around for the first arc of the story. _

_I apologize for not updating sooner. Graduation got to me but at least I'm free now! _

_Thank you!_


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